The view from Kakeru’s place. This episode, we look back at everything from the perspective of our resident emo boy.
What They Say:
Episode 12: LETTER 12
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
We have a rewind and replay from Kakeru’s point of view for half of this episode. We see his inner toil and his thoughts. It’s not a particularly pleasant thing to experience again…though it also starts to become clear that this replay of events is the original timeline where the group is unaware of the future. All of the bad events that happened to Kakeru (such as the relay race) happen.
There are revelations, of course. Kakeru finds his mother’s phone and reads a draft reply she was writing to him before she decided to take her own life. It does much to shade and contextualize the “crazy mother psychologically abusing her kid” diagnosis that viewers of the show have probably made of her over the course of the season. Sadly, reading the response only builds Kakeru’s self-loathing and guilt to a fatal climax.
The remainder of the episode returns to the “new” timeline where the group learns of the sad fate awaiting Kakeru. There are some parts set in the future, where we see the group’s resolution to change the past. In the high school era (now clearly defined as February 2013) we’re back to the awkward time after the fight at the shrine (the change in perspective is made clear by the narrator switching from Kakeru to Naho). Naho, armed with knowledge of what is yet to happen, does her best to make up with Kakeru, but he does not seem to be interested in doing so. It would seem that despite all of the changes made to the timeline, the basic root problem is at this point unresolvable: they (the group) would need to discover again the mechanism for sending their letters back into the past and this time make it explicit that they are not to invite Kakeru to join them on the day of the Opening Ceremony.
This is an episode that provides a lot of perspective, but also feels like a holding action until they are ready to present us with the denouement. No real light is shed here on whether the group has been successful in changing events (and Kakeru’s attitude) enough to stop him from taking that fatal bike ride in the night, where Kakeru decided to act exactly like his mother: both felt that they were being a burden to others (his mother to Kakeru; Kakeru to his grandmother) and so they decided to shuffle off the mortal coil, not realizing that the only ones who escape that way are the ones who die. The living are left with the shock, the horror, and the sadness to work through.
While we do learn a lot about what makes Kakeru tick, it doesn’t really help Naho and friends for us the viewing audience to learn these things. She needs to know what he’s thinking in order to be able to stop him from entering that final, downward spiral. The problem, of course, is that Kakeru has decided to shield his friends from the truth.
What will be Kakeru’s fate in this alternate timeline? We’ll find out next week.
In Summary:
Kakeru’s mother had moved them to Nagano with the best of intentions, but Kakeru only discovers this far too late. Combined with a bull-headed determination to keep his troubles closed up within him, it’s a recipe for sadness. Despite the gains made by Naho and friends in the “replay” of events, it’s still unknown whether the toxic mix of emotions within Kakeru will shut out whatever points of light the group have tried to shine inside of his heart. Destination Oblivion? We’ll find out next week.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 12GB RAM, Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan.
